


Dean Is As Subtle As A Brick

by Huggle



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Castiel and Dean Winchester Fight, Castiel and Dean Winchester are Cute, Castiel and Dean Winchester are Dorks, Fluff, Hurt Castiel, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-27
Updated: 2016-04-27
Packaged: 2018-06-04 21:49:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6676642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Huggle/pseuds/Huggle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It takes Sam a while to work out what's different about Castiel.</p><p>It takes him a couple of seconds to see right through Dean.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dean Is As Subtle As A Brick

Sam looked up from his laptop as Castiel vanished with a fluttering of wings.

“Where’s he going?” he asked. 

Dean shrugged. “Peoria. Who the fuck knows? Are you done yet?”

“Wow, pissy much?”

~~

By the time Castiel returned, and Sam thought he looked...different somehow...they’d figured out it was not another siren they were dealing with but the descendent of Circe. 

Once Castiel vanquished her, they managed to get Dean in the back seat. Impalas were not built for pigs, but after a few minutes of Enochian spell-busting, Dean changed back right in Castiel’s lap. 

Sam laughed so hard he nearly drove off the road.

~~

The next morning, Cas looked as ill at ease as he had the day before, and Dean was a little thundercloud. 

“I don’t know what the big deal is. It’s not like you _need_ it or anything,” Dean said.

“Dean.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“Help me look.”

“You can fly thousands of miles in a heartbeat, throw a demon across a room and travel through time. I don’t know what kind of help you think you need from me.”

“Very well. I’ll locate it myself.”

“Fine.” Dean stormed into the bathroom and slammed the door.

“Fine.” And then Castiel was gone.

Sam sat in silence for a moment, hands braced on the mattress. Then he got up and knocked on the bathroom door. “Did you guys just do scenes from Moonlighting?”

“Fuck off, Sam. Before I dunk your laptop in the tub.”

~~

Sam still couldn’t put his finger on it. Something had changed about Cas, and not just the dimming of his Grace. Or the peculiar fits of contrariness. (Although privately Sam thought Cas had always had the potential to be as much of a pedantic, stubborn pain in the ass as Dean did. Little wonder they got on so well, except when they didn’t).

They headed back to Bobby’s after Cas got banged up rescuing them from a nest of vampires. The angel brooded silently in the back seat of the car, the way he usually did when he was in pain and didn’t want them to know. Sam felt like reaching over and slapping him upside the head. Just because Dean liked to act like as if he was a Universal Soldier, didn’t mean Castiel had to follow his example.

But when they arrived at Bobby’s, Dean went in to help get the panic room ready so Cas could recover somewhere safe. Sam got into the back seat to help Cas sit up and make it back to the house. He had to almost hug the angel to get him upright, and that was when he noticed it.

“Cas, where’s your tie?”

The angel gave a half shrug, and he probably wasn’t caring a lot right then about his missing tie. But now Sam knew that was what had been different about the angel for the past few days. 

Dean reappeared then, and took Cas off him, and half dragged half carried the hurt angel into the house. Sam watched with a sigh. It probably wouldn’t be much longer until Castiel was all the way human. He didn’t know what they were going to do then.

As he pushed off the seat, his fingers touched the edge of something soft. He looked down, saw the tip of a piece of black material poking out from the seat cushions, and pulled.

Castiel’s tie appeared, right out of the hidey hole Dean had created in the back seat, just in case they ever need to secret something away in a hurry.

Puzzled, Sam wrapped it up in his hand and wandered into Bobby’s. Dean was heading for the kitchen, purposeful, until Sam stopped him with a giant paw.

“Did you steal Castiel’s tie?”

“What? No!” Dean tried to edge around his brother but Sam shifted left and right until Dean glared at him. “Sam. Prioritise.”

“You did steal it. Dean, you freak! What the hell do you want with the angel’s tie?”

Dean sighed, seeming to accept that Sam wasn’t going to move until he got answers. He pulled a small tattered notebook from his back pocket, and held it out, eyes fixed to the floor. 

Sam opened the book and read through Dean’s hurried scrawl. It was in Latin, and a little rough, but he knew what it was meant to do.

“Dean, that’s.....”

Dean grabbed the front of Sam’s shirt. “If the next words to come out of your mouth are ‘really sweet’, Cas is gonna have company downstairs.”

Sam held up his hands, contrite surrender. Dean filled a bottle with water and started back towards the stairs. 

“A beautiful gesture,” Sam said, and heard Dean curse him as he stomped down to the panic room. Sure, Dean would think he was teasing, and he was a bit, but really.... It was sweet, and pretty damn smart.

Sam sat down at the table with the book and Castiel’s tie. He grabbed a pen and started tidying up some of the Latin. 

Only his brother would steal an article of his boyfriend angel’s clothing to make a protection spell and then fall out with him over the missing item.


End file.
